1973 A Request for the Dates
A request for the dates that Dean had met with the president lead Special Counsel J. Fred Buzhardt to provide a document to Minority Chief Counsel Thompson supposedly to impugn Dean. However, the document contained almost verbatim quotations which, when Scott Armstrong, Committee majority investigator obtains a copy, realizes there must be a taping system.
Thereafter, questioning of potential witnesses include a question about a taping system.
Using a system based on the spiderweb model used by Carmine Bellino, investigators began identifying potential witnesses who may have a link to the White House during the times in question. Although Alexander Butterfield left the White House in March of 1973 for the FAA, he was, up to that time, Haldeman’s Deputy.